February 2012 Blog Posts (112)

We get an extra day this year, so happy Leap Day! It's a day to do something more than normal, a day to really make it count. We started the day with a 55-minute tempo run at 6am. We'd have done the run anyway, according to our training plan, but running at 6am allowed us to run together at our full potential. When we run separately, later in the day, we tend to slack off a little.

How are you spending your extra day? How are you going to make it count for Leap Day…

I've been studying T'ai Chi for a little over a year. Recently I bought a book of notes by one of the disciples of Master T.T. Liang, "Lessons With Master Liang" by Ray Hayward.

At first T'ai Chi frustrated me because it was so slow. It seemed I was learning at the pace of a snail, one posture per week on a good week. I'm discovering that it is an in-depth art.…

Drinking 36 ounces of water each morning, eating raw greens daily (smoothies & salads), moving (mostly walking & yoga), and writing everyday.  I'm still at it and going strong.  I have every intention of keeping at it through the month of April.  

I'm also in the midst of researching Whole Food Eating.…

We, along with two or three other couples, get together to have a bimonthly supper club. The host couple chooses a theme, and the dishes everyone brings are supposed to fit into the theme (and sometimes a particular course is assigned). This month, we hosted, and our theme was tapas.

What fun it was to eat a variety of foods on small plates. And since it's still closer to the beginning of the year, one of the couples was still working through a 30-day paleo challenge. While I…

We've been going through a series in church on comparison for these last three weeks. It's been educational and thought-provoking, to say the least. This week's sermon topic was centered around the Parable of the Talents (Matt 25:14-30). The parable centers around three servants, each of whom was entrusted to a certain amount of money by his master for an amount of time. After awhile, the master returned to learn what each servant…

Michael Beckwith once wrote, “The daily headlines describe a global culture that has been cur off from the soul.” One need not look farther then the headlines on any form of news media for stories about violence, whether it is overt, subtle, verbal, physical, emotional, psychological, or spiritual. We manifest violence through our words, actions, and thoughts. Violence is associated with power, either the misuse of the power one has or an attempt to feel powerful in a world where they have…

Well my holidays have come to an end. I'm back to work today and must say it was nice (sort of) to get back to a routine, see my work peeps and get cracking on those spring issues (yay spring!). In the spirit of Monday, I thought I'd share a super easy way to enjoy a good breakfast (although I'm pretty sure that's the point of every post and every smoothie recipe?).



I made these muffins on Saturday morning.…

I eat healthy and organic when I can.

Any tips on how I can feel my best?

I do fine in the Spring Summer and Fall but the Winter is challenging for me.

I think it has to do with walking less!

That's me. I love to try new products. For me, the reasons are many...I'm a sucker for a pretty package, I'm seduced by the promise of "younger looking skin" or "all day shine control" or "smooth, sleek hair", and let's face it...I get bored easily and like to try new things to spice up my daily routine. It's really that simple.…

A few years ago... I found out my husband cheated on me, I began using food to fill my void, to soothe me and to use instead of anger, I baked. I went from 170lbs to 210 in a short time. 

 My doctor recommended a health coach, and I was reluctant, but I went to meet her.. after a short time I realized I needed to do this. This coach advocated a 7 day detox first...not a shake or liquids.. but no protein.. just fruits and…

Now that we are fairly settled into our new home, I decided to start to tackle the bottomless pit of extra boxes and ‘stuff’ that we have put into storage in a section of our basement. I would eventually like to get the space set up as a spare bedroom or even a playroom, but for now it is a bit of a junk pit.

To continue to read, click...…

For the last few weeks, I have been spending quite a bit of time reflecting on the agreements I have made about perfection. It has not always been easy, but it has enabled me to release some things I did not know were still part of my agreements. It also enabled me to see how much I have grown, how much I have already discarded, and what I still need to work on. What I had come to realize is that this image of perfection sets me and everyone else up for failure. Once we are domesticated then…

Every time I tell the Universe I am ready to pursue my passions a funny thing happens; the Universe supports me with lots and lots of opportunity.  

At first, it is exciting.  Then, it gets a bit scary.  With scary comes paralysis.  I totally forget the concept of properly sorting and shelving the opportunities that I…

10 Things You Should NEVER Say

 To Your Kids

1)      I don’t care

2)      That’s stupid

3)      How could you do something so stupid?

4)      Don’t embarrass me

5)      What’s the matter with you?

6)      You’re just like your mother/ father (in…

Have you ever had a dream and then let it die because it didn't seem like you were making any progress? I've had a few of those. One was to become a writer. The vision I had for myself was more of a character in a movie or a chick lit novel (you know the one - single girl in the city, wearing fabulous clothes she could never afford as an entry-level magazine assistant editor, who gets a book deal and becomes famous), rather than being realistic, so when that didn't come to fruition, I kind…

Several weeks ago,a previous co-worker, a woman who over the years has become my friend lost her 21 year son to suicide.  We had lost touch in the past year, but reconnected at the beginning of the year through email.  Her birthday was January 19 and our schedules were crazed, but had decided we'd go out after her birthday.  We didn't because her son killed himself the night before her birthday.

For most who have met me, they would probably consider that I keep my emotions…

We're hosting a dinner party tomorrow evening - we have a group of four couples who gather for a bimonthly supper club, and each couple takes turns hosting and choosing a theme. Our theme is tapas, and it was originally scheduled for January. I thought tapas would be a good theme for a post-holidays dinner party because it focuses on just tasting everything and enjoying the company, but not sitting down for a giant meal. I didn't change the theme when the night got pushed back a month…

You know how life just seems to get overwhelming? You know how you’re supposed to take deep breaths, go for a walk, pamper yourself, or mutter encouraging mantras to get you through the drama? You know how after you try all of those things, and you’re still feeling affected, you figure that nothing beats an eating bender? You know how you go on a bender with all the self-loathing that goes along with it, but you know you’re going to come out of it the next day stronger and more determined…